Millions of players around the world helped take Star Stable from a little-known CD-ROM game championing an underserved community into a global brand with a music label, original book series, animations, comics and mobile apps
In 2011, Star Stable Entertainment launched its flagship product, Star Stable Online, a multiplayer role-playing horse adventure game that has been played by millions of loyal gamers around the world. Founders were on a mission to create a game with strong, powerful girls at the center of the experience. Despite critics and doubters 10 years ago, Star Stable Online is now celebrating the success and social impact of a game that became the top-rated and fastest growing horse game in the world. It continues to see steady growth of its player community and has consistently attracted new fans, with a 40 percent surge in first-time registrations in 2020 alone. New players join fans who have been playing since Day One.
“Video game experts told us not to create a game for a female audience; they said, ‘girls don’t play video games.’ We did it anyway. And now, 10 years later, we have millions of players in 180 countries playing in 14 languages,” said Johan Sjöberg, CEO, Star Stable Entertainment. “We are enormously proud to have helped transform the games landscape for girls and have extended that vision — to inspire girls and young women and create pro-social, inclusive environments — across all our entertainment channels.”
Earlier this year, Star Stable partnered with research firm The Insights Family to explore the impact of games on girls and young women, and how Star Stable measures up. The results from this US-focused survey showed a positive and undeniable benefit that transcends the game. Star Stable players reported significantly more self-confidence and improved ability to form friendships online and offline.
- Star Stable players are best at staying connected with friends. 85 percent of Star Stable players said that games helped them stay connected to friends (versus 55 percent of other girl gamers).
- Games are an important part of children’s social lives. 72 percent of Star Stable players said playing games helped them make new friends in real life (versus 49 percent of other girl gamers), while 80 percent of Star Stable players said playing games helped them make new friends online (versus 58 percent other girl gamers).
- Star Stable players are twice as likely to report feeling more self-confidence compared to girls who play other games (61 percent compared to 29 percent).
- Today’s parents overwhelmingly support their child gaming (85% of gamer parents), while it’s nearly unanimous for Star Stable parents (98%).
Becoming a Global Cross-channel Entertainment Company
In the past decade, Star Stable Entertainment built partnerships with entertainment industry giants, including DreamWorks Animation and Nickelodeon, to fill the gap in girls’ digital entertainment by emphasizing the qualities of today’s fearless girl. These partners and others helped the company expand its portfolio beyond the game Star Stable Online to produce a range of entertainment verticals with the goal of becoming the leading entertainment platform for girls and young women worldwide:
- In Q1 2021, Star Stable Entertainment debuted its new animated series, Star Stable: Mistfall, garnering 12 million views on Star Stable’s YouTube channel, and now greenlit for a long-form animated series.
- In 2020, Star Stable debuted a new book trilogy – Soul Riders, with the third and final installment released in April 2021, is now sold in 11 languages. Each book has been awarded a NAPPA (National Parenting Products Award) in the Children’s Books category.
- In 2019, Star Stable launched an independent record label and has debuted more than 40 single hits with more than 10 million streams across all platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.
Even as Star Stable Entertainment unveils its expanded and dynamic product portfolio, Star Stable Online remains a top-performer for the company.
“Thank you to all our Star Stable fans for staying with us year after year, for the ideas and constant feedback, and for the players who became invaluable employees. Because of you, the community we dreamed about 10 years ago exists today,” said Sjöberg.
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